bubbling?

ok so yesterday i played in 12 9 man sng's (all $5 except a $10 i accidentally registered for).

entry fees and tourney fees=$71.50

5 cashes(3 wins and 2 3rd's =$94.50


With a $23 dollar profit seems like a pretty good day.

My problem is that of the 7 non cashes 5 were bubbles.

Is a lot of bubbling a sign of playing too tight or should I just write it off as variance?

Bubbling is a bad sign if you weren't the shortstack. You should be playing very tight on the bubble, unless you are the shortstack in which case you simply have to chip up.

well i usually play very tight on the bubble if i am short stacked looking for that hand to double up on. I am sure i was shortstacked when busting out of all those tourneys except one. I was in second position when big stack limps from the button which is always a red flag for me but i had jacks on the bb so i raise and he just makes a very quick call (almost like the call any box was checked). Flop is 2 7 J rainbow. I got top set thinking he could have a big pair i bet out and he shoves with like 30 bb left. cards flip and sure enough Kings!! but he hit a king on the turn and i was out.

Not much you can do after you hit top set. However I would not be raising there, just check and hope to hit a flop like you did. In general, if you're 2nd place on the bubble, that's when you have to be the absolute tightest. You have so much equity that the mere possibility of busting makes pretty much every holding -EV in ICM.

If you get to the bubble as the shortstack, then you're going to have to make something happen. I think a lot of people's ranges are off at small SNG's, so taking stacks into account, I'm jamming any two on the blinds (as long as the big blind isn't the massive chip leader), and if you get a chance to pick on the 3rd place stack, that's your target. He doesn't want to screw up his money since he's so close. Also if you win the hand against this guy, he's going to be severley wounded, and someone will probably pick him off. If you double through the leader, then often you'll just end up yourself and previously 3rd place guy having about the same stacks. Still not an enviable position.

yea i struggled at the time with whether or not to raise thinking he had me crushed but basically i was trying to avoid trouble of a flop with 3 undercards to my pair. So my strategy here was raise and if he just calls i got him but if he re-raises im probably beat and i can fold. Of course I see this strategy was flawed since he did have the big pair and just called anyway.

You probably play too tight too early.

Thank you very much for these tips. I try to think about ever factor when making a decision but some of these i havent been considering, but I definately will be from now on.

Playing tight early is the right way to go about single table sngs. I agree with Mases points. I have a lot of trouble with not playing tight enough when I am 2nd in chips. In this situation you have to realize that you have very delicate tournament equity and should stay out of any confrontations unless you are absolutely sure you have the nuts.

When you are short stacked you have to sart pushing all of your chips in before its too late and you have no fold equity left. If you have less than 10 big blinds and there is no-one with less than you you need to pick your spot and shove. If someone behind you wakes up with a monster hand then thats just the way it gos. If you shove, get called and lose, then look back on that hand and decide that it was still the right move then you played it well.

I have this problem I've noticed after thinking a few recent tournaments where I was in a really good position to get itm. One was a 3.30 KO 90 SNG on FTP where I bubbled out. I was one of the shortstacks though so I was shoving with decent cards in order to steal blinds. Shoved with A7, called by A5, guy hits the 5 and I'm out. Another was the other night in a 1.10 rebuy on FTP. I got into 4th out of 650 or so at the first break, kept doubling up on a guy who just kept rebuying but then started playing too lose. I know I made a lot of mistakes after becoming one of the big stacks, ended up missing the money by about 20 people.

Don't remember why I quoted there...

Personally I love bubble play, but I don't play just to cash. I play to win. This means that sometimes I'll bubble due to aggressive play even when I wasn't the short stack. However - from my experience - the first places (and therefore monies) obtained with this style of play far outweigh the times I've bubbled due to it.

Don't fear the reaper.

I def agree with this. I also have the problem of constantly bubbling and have no idea to improve..I probably do play way too tight at the beginning with no chance for me to even make it higher than the bubble if the blinds aren't going up and I'm not jumping in on the action.

I am going to gear my one table strategy with this and see how it works out!

Congrats Rideitout for making a profit and goood luck with your future sng's!

It's a good idea to keep an eye on the chipstacks and try to figure out who the bubbleboy will be. Play it tight if you can but if you're the shortstack sometimes you gotta pick your hand and shove preflop and hope for the best. A lot of players play tight too early and end up short.

I seem to be in the minority but the bubble is where you need to pick up your chips. Aggressive blind stealing, pot stealing poker. There is no point limiping for 3rd place when 1st takes all the money.

Your stats suggest to me that you are playing to tight near and in the money and end up short stacked with no chance at first place.

I think tight play is good early, but bubble is where you should be stealing blinds. watch out for those super short or super deep stacks =)

Can i add one thing, i hope none yells at me...
Try stealing from the SB, when it's folded to you, you will see this works out great, but if the BB reraises all-in fold, all you need is a 3X the BB bet to make it work, C-bet the flop, i would say haft the pot.
See my DoNs, SnGs stats, for what i mean.
This has been working for me, i'm not sure if it will it will work for you.

Certainly busting on the bubble is a big problem. Your sample size was probably way too small but oh well....its something to go by i guess. If you really want to have less bubble finishes i suggest that you play very aggressive on it. If your on the button open raise or simply just dump depending on your stack. Little things like this will really help you win tournaments and get past that annoying bubble stage. You just gotta try to pick your time and go for it.

It is in most peoples nature to play tight on the bubble. However it can be a good time to increase your chip stack and there is an arguement you should take advantage of other players reluctance and play more aggressively. As always every game is different and you need to play the table as you see it.

getting a good amt of chips BEFORE the bubble will give u an easier time ON the bubble.

play tight, dont go crazy early on, but definitely open up ur ranges in position and try to c more cheap flops. start protecting ur stack once u get a decent amt of chips